This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9 billion project to build the Barclays Center arena and 16 high-rise buildings at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park Brooklyn in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake in 15 towers. New York State still calls it Atlantic Yards. Note: archive at right.

Density? FAR is elusive at hearing; Marty offers traffic soliloquy

The confirmation that the city made no effort to develop the railyards at the heart of the Atlantic Yards footprint was just one troubling aspect of the discussion last Thursday at the Brooklyn Borough Board Atlantic Yards Committee's final meeting. The city has not yet tried to measure the density of the proposed project, a city official acknowledged and Borough President Marty Markowitz, in semi-disparaging style, described opponents of the plan as people worried about adding a single minute to their daily commute.

Numerous observers have commented that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) can't do justice to the project if it looks at impacts within the proposed primary study area of one-quarter miles and secondary study area of one-half mile. After all, that would exclude the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and other arteries certain to be impacted by an arena.

Markowitz asked if there was any precedent, for a project of this size, for the study area to be extended beyond the half-mile boundary.

Winston Von Engel, Deputy Director of the Department of City Planning's Brooklyn office, said he wasn't certain. In the EIS developed by the city for the redevelopment of Downtown Brooklyn, the study area was a half-mile, "but it does not mean you don't analyze, for traffic purposes, intersections further away... The further away you get from a project the less you notice it." (The EIS for the Atlantic Yards project is being developed by the Empire State Development Corporation, a state agency, and Draft EIS is expected first.)

Markowitz went into a soliloquy: "I'm acutely aware that, for many who oppose this project, nothing is more important than traffic. If it meant a difference of... one more minute in their travel time, they would choose not to have that additional minute. So my question is: it's not just Atlantic and Flatbush.... Events may be such that traffic comes to a halt beyond the designation of a half a mile. That's a concern of those who've raised the issue, that it should be studied from Grand Army Plaza, and all the way down to the water. There's no question it's a legitimate concern. And one of which, I must tell you, all of us working towards the most creative out-of-the-box solutions."

"Traffic is definitely going to be an issue with this project," Von Engel responded, stating the obvious. But he observed that he was there to discuss land use, and that traffic and transit are dealt with in other sections of the EIS. (Indeed, they was a previous hearing on traffic, and also on transit.)

Markowitz's "one more minute" comment contrasted with the concerns raised by others, such as Council Member David Yassky, who recently called traffic and parking issues "a first-order obstacle.” Speaking at a forum sponsored by the Park Slope Civic Council, he said, “unless there’s a serious and concrete plan” regarding traffic, “I think the project has to be resisted on that ground alone.”

Assemblywoman Joan Millman picked up on the issue. "We just heard that all sanitation trucks" would go to Hamilton Avenue. "That's way beyond one-half mile." Similarly, she noted sewage runoff to the Gowanus Canal would have an impact beyond a one-half mile.

Rezoning coming?

Millman wondered whether, should such a large project be built, there'd be a new push to rezone Atlantic and Flatbush avenues to accommodate more high-rise buildings.

Von Engel responded, "That's hard for me to say... We live in a changing world and changing city. Certainly changes are possible." He noted that the railyards have been zoned for manufacturing, but would become residential and commercial. Other developments nearby have changed from manufacturing to commercial.

For upzoning, how does the Department of City Planning determine the appropriate density, asked Shirley McRae, chair of Community Board 2.

"In general, you look at whether the infrastructure can handle the density," Von Engel said, citing such elements as mass transit, street capacity, and open space--or if a proposed project adds enough amenities such as open space of community facilities. "There is no formula, per se. We upzoned most of Downtown Brooklyn based on the fact that most of Downtown Brooklyn has fantastic mass transit access."

McRae pressed on, pointing out that Atlantic Avenue is close to major transportation. Could it be upzoned?

"Possibly, but there's no proposal to do so," Von Engel said, adding that it's not city-owned land. Private owners are free to propose rezoning. But he said there were a lot of variables to consider, including economic factors.

How dense? Don't know

Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is the way to calculate density. For Fourth Avenue, the border between Park Slope and Gowanus, the FAR is 6, Von Engel said. In Greenpoint and Williamsburg, it varies, from 2 to 8, in part because high-rise development on the waterfront includes an affordable housing bonus.

What's the FAR for the Atlantic Yards project, asked Kate Suisman, aide to Council Member Letitia James.

Von Engel replied, "I don't know what that is. It's a large project. You have to take the floor area and divide it by the lot area." (Architect Jonathan Cohn has attempted to do just that, and comes up with figures different from those used by Forest City Ratner.)

He said the figure currently being evaluated in the state environmental review (9.1 million square feet) is a limit, "so you know the outside envelope of the impacts."

City role?

Jerry Armer, chair of Community Board 2, asked, "Since this is an ESDC project, does New York City zoning come into play at all? Basically, they override it.... I'm really curious--what role does City Planning actually play?"

Von Engel replied, "ESDC has the ability to override local land use regulations. It is my understanding that ESDC does not like to do these overrides without consultation and concurrence by the local municipality. The support of the local municipality is important. The mayor has preliminarily indicated his support for the project. Our department obviously works for the mayor. If he asks us to look at this project, certainly we will. The zoning does play a role in the EIS."

"They will look at the current zoning. Clearly the zoning is different from what is proposed. The density that's being proposed, without putting a number on it, is high," he said. While the railyards are zoned for manufacturing, with a relatively low FAR, "to the north, there's a commercial district that allows an FAR of 10, and higher, with bonuses." He was referring to the Downtown Brooklyn redevelopment--which Forest City Ratner has also cited as an argument for the density of the Atlantic Yards plan.

Millman asked Von Engel how property owners can get variances to build higher on their land. "It has to be in character with the surrounding area," he said.

"You're talking about a neighborhood where we have dramatic change," Millman observed.

Von Engel said that variances are usually evaluated in the context of the street itself, not necessary the surrounding streets.

Street closings, not demapping

Does the City Planning department have a general policy on street closings, Suisman asked. (Pacific Street would be closed between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues, and between Sixth and Flatbush avenues, and Fifth Avenue would be closed between Flatbush and Atlantic avenues.)

Von Engel said a bit ruefully that he had been asked about it previously, and quoted. "We look at it on a case by case basis. As I said the last time, when we did Downtown Brooklyn, we did demap some streets and we mapped some new streets. What our chair and the mayor care about is that there's life on the street, that the sidewalks are alive, that they're exciting and interesting. It depends on the case." (He didn't address how demapping Pacific between Carlton and Vanderbilt would increase street life.)

Suisman asked if the closing of some streets in the Atlantic Yards plan would increase traffic. The closing of streets for the arena, he said, would not be too dramatic--"generally they're not very active streets."

He explained, to the surprise of some, that no streets in the Atlantic Yards plan would actually be demapped. Rather, they would be closed. Demapping requires a decision under ULURP, the city's land use review process, but this is a state process. "Chances are they'll still appear on the city map," he said.

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You write that "It is my understanding that ESDC does not like to do these overrides without consultation and concurrence by the local municipality." But who determines what consultation and concurrence is? Does that simply mean Bloomberg says he likes it? Or on the other extreme, does this mean that the ESDC has to come and get approval from the local community boards? Is there legal precedence on this question?

While that's part of the lawsuit, more prominent are claims of racial discrimination and retaliation, with black employees claiming repeated abuse by white supervisors, preferential treatment toward Hispanic colleagues, and retaliation in response to complaints.

Two individual supervisors, for example, are charged with referring to black employees as “black motherfucker,” “dumb black bitch,” “black monkey,” “piece of shit” and “nigger.”

Two have referred to an employee blind in one eye as “cyclops,” and “the one-eyed guy,” and an employee with a nose disorder as “the nose guy.”

There's been no official response yet though arena spokesman Barry Baum told the Daily News they, but take “allegations of this kind very seriously” and have "a zero tolerance policy for…

To supporters of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, it's a long-awaited plan for long-overlooked land. "The Atlantic Yards area has been available for any developer in America for over 100 years,” declared Borough President Marty Markowitz at a 5/26/05 City Council hearing.

Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, mused on 11/15/05 to WNYC's Brian Lehrer, “Isn’t it interesting that these railyards have sat for decades and decades and decades, and no one has done a thing about them.” Forest City Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco, in a 12/19/04 New York Times article ("In a War of Words, One Has the Power to Wound") described the railyards as "an empty scar dividing the community."

But why exactly has the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard never been developed? Do public officials have some responsibility?

At right is a photo of a poster spotted in Hasidic Williamsburg right. Clearly there's an event scheduled at the Barclays Center aimed at the Haredi Jewish community (strict Orthodox Jews who reject secular culture), but the lack of English text makes it cryptic.

The website Matzav.com explains, Protest Against Israeli Draft of Bnei Yeshiva Rescheduled for Barclays Center:
A large asifa to protest the drafting of bnei yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel into the Israeli army that had been set to take place this month will instead be held on Sunday, 17 Sivan/June 11, at the Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn, NY.
So attendees at a big gathering will protest an apparent change of policy that will make it much more difficult for traditional Orthodox Jewish students--both Hasidic (who follow a rebbe) and non-Hasidic (who don't)--to get deferments from the draft. Comments on the Yeshiva World website explain some of the debate.

First mentioned in April, the Atlantic Yards project in Atlanta is moving ahead--and has the potential to nudge Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn further down in Google searches.

According to a 5/30/17 press release, Hines and Invesco Real Estate Announce T3 West Midtown and Atlantic Yards:
Hines, the international real estate firm, and Invesco Real Estate, a global real estate investment manager, today announced a joint venture on behalf of one of Invesco Real Estate’s institutional clients to develop two progressive office projects in Atlanta totalling 700,000 square feet. T3 West Midtown will be a 200,000-square-foot heavy timber office development and Atlantic Yards will consist of 500,000 square feet of progressive office space in two buildings. Both projects are located on sites within Atlantic Station in the flourishing Midtown submarket.
Hines will work with Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture (HPA) as the design architect for both T3 West Midtown and Atlantic Yards. DLR Group will be t…

Pacific Park Brooklyn is seriously delayed, Forest City Realty Trust said yesterday in a news release, which further acknowledged that the project has caused a $300 million impairment, or write-down of the asset, as the expected revenues no longer exceed the carrying cost.

The Cleveland-based developer, parent of Brooklyn-based Forest City Ratner, which is a 30% investor in Pacific Park along with 70% partner/overseer Greenland USA, blamed the "significant impairment" on an oversupply of market-rate apartments, the uncertain fate of the 421-a tax break, and a continued increase in construction costs.

While the delay essentially confirms the obvious, given that two major buildings have not launched despite plans to do so, it raises significant questions about the future of the project, including:if market-rate construction is delayed, will the affordable h…

Real Estate Weekly, reporting on trends in Chinese investment in New York City, on 11/18/15 quoted Jim Costello, a senior vice president at research firm Real Capital Analytics:
“They’re typically building high-end condos, build it and sell it. Capital return is in a few years. That’s something that is ingrained in the companies that have been coming here because that’s how they’ve grown in the last 35 years. It’s always been a development game for them. So they’re just repeating their business model here,” he said.
When I read that last November, I didn't think it necessarily applied to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, now 70% owned (outside of the Barclays Center and B2 modular apartment tower), by the Greenland Group, owned significantly by the Shanghai government.
A majority of the buildings will be rentals, some 100% market, some 100% affordable, and several--the last several built--are supposed to be 50% market/50% subsidized. (See tentative timetable below.)Selling development …

As I've written, Mayor Bill de Blasio sure knows how to steer and spin coverage of his affordable housing initiatives.

Indeed, his latest announcement, claiming significant progress, came with a pre-press release op-ed in the New York Daily News and then a friendly photo-op press conference with an understandably grateful--and very lucky--winner of an affordable housing lottery.

To me, though, the most significant quote came from Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, who, as the Wall Street Journal reported:
said public housing had been “starved” of federal support for years now, leaving the city with fewer ways of creating affordable housing. “Are we relying too heavily on the private sector?” she said. “There is no alternative.”
Though Glen was using what she surely sees as a common-sense phrase, it recalls the slogan of a politician with whom I doubt de Blasio identifies: former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a Conservative who believed in free markets.